Thud-thud-thud—footsteps hammered up the stairwell like drums in a storm.

At the doorway, the beat was sharp as knives and full of wind; Gu Xin knew it wasn’t Meng Yuting. Anxiety pooled like cold water as she groped for words for Ye Yiyi.

Then Tang Coco’s Armor unraveled into red particles, like fireflies shedding skins, and vanished.

The white short dress beneath bloomed like a moonlit flower.

“Coco?” Gu Xin looked at her, doubt heavy as fog.

Ye Yiyi reached the rooftop then; she saw Gu Xin and a red‑haired girl, a flame‑haired stranger wearing Tang Coco’s clothes.

“Is… is that… Coco?” She covered her mouth, steps slow as wading through water, drifting toward Tang Coco.

Tang Coco stared at Ye Yiyi, face blank as still ice.

“Hah. Boring.” Her voice cut like a knife. She lifted those perfect legs and walked past, like a swan ignoring ripples, and left.

“Coco…” Ye Yiyi reached out, hope fluttering like a moth, but her hand froze midair.

She stared, unbelieving. Hair and eyes had changed like dyed rivers, yet that flawless face stayed the same—only now it wore highborn frost.

“Yiyi…” Gu Xin stepped beside her and patted her shoulder, a steady palm like a warm stone.

“Sister Gu… what’s happening… that was Coco… right?” Tears welled like dew in Ye Yiyi’s eyes.

Gu Xin fell silent; the words knotted like reeds in her throat.

“Yiyi… saw it all?” Meng Yuting came up from the stairs, breath carrying stairwell dust, and looked to Gu Xin.

“Yeah…” Gu Xin answered softly, her voice a thin thread.

“Yuting-jie! What’s going on? Tell me!” Ye Yiyi sobbed, her grief beating like rain.

“This…” Meng Yuting’s brows pinched like drawn bows; she hesitated.

“Yuting, tell her. Yiyi really likes Coco.” Gu Xin’s tone was gentle yet firm, like silk over steel.

“…Fine.” Meng Yuting exhaled, the decision landing like a stone in a pond.

“Yiyi, let’s go back to the room. We need to tell you slowly.” Gu Xin spoke as if smoothing wrinkled paper.

She took the sniffling Ye Yiyi by the hand, and they left the rooftop, their steps fading like wind.

By then, Tang Coco had returned to her guest room, cool as moonlight on tile.

“Rewrite the door lock. Without my permission, no one gets in.” Tang Coco spoke to the system, words clean as a blade.

“Understood.” The system’s cold voice slid into her mind like icewater.

She walked in, went to her suitcase, and knelt to sift through clothes like leaves in a chest.

Nothing pleased her. After a long pick, she took a black dress, night poured into cloth, and changed by the bed.

In another room, shock cracked the air. “What? An Abnormal?”

After hearing Gu Xin and the others, Ye Yiyi reeled, astonishment surging like a tide.

“Hard to believe, right? But Abnormals are real.” Gu Xin lifted her hand, calm as winter.

An ice flower blossomed in her palm, petals clear as glass.

“Ah!” Ye Yiyi covered her mouth, disbelief shining like lightning in her eyes.

“Now you believe it, right…” Gu Xin’s voice was soft as snow.

“Then… what does this have to do with Coco? Don’t tell me…” Her words broke like twigs.

“You’re right. Coco is an Abnormal too.” Gu Xin nodded, the motion small as a falling feather.

Ye Yiyi fell quiet. Gu Xin paused, then went on, stepping through thorny words.

“But her Anomaly Power is special. You saw it—her looks and her temperament both shifted like tides.”

“How can that be… does she still remember us?” Urgency burned in Ye Yiyi’s voice like a candle.

“That part… she should remember. But her personality should differ greatly from the old Coco.” Gu Xin’s certainty was a lantern in mist.

“I see…” Ye Yiyi lowered her head, thoughts scattering like startled birds.

It wasn’t only Ye Yiyi. Gu Xin and Meng Yuting’s moods were tangled too, like knotted fishing lines.

They had witnessed Tang Coco’s Anomaly Power. It felt almost the same as Tang Ke’s, a mirror river.

Earlier, their wristbands even lit up, and pale‑blue motes rose like dawn mist.

They nearly concluded she was Tang Ke. But Coco’s later state shattered that guess like glass.

Right now, they sensed no trace of Tang Ke’s breath on her, not a thread of that aura.

Confusion sat with them like a fogbound guest.

“Coco turning out like this… we don’t know the details either.” Meng Yuting frowned, her gaze a drawn line.

Moments ago, they had felt the pressure of her SS‑grade Anomaly Power, a mountain on the chest.

Because of that, they’d likely drawn Avril’s eyes, like hawks to heat.

“Wait. Ningxin should know what’s going on with Coco’s power.” Suddenly, Gu Xin’s thought flashed like flint.

“Right! How did I forget her?” Meng Yuting tapped her forehead, a small drumbeat.

“Ningxin?!” The name startled Ye Yiyi, surprise flaring like a match.

“Oh, true. Since Coco knows Ningxin, you’d know her too.” Meng Yuting’s words fell easy as rain.

“What about Sister Ning? Does she know about you as well?” Ye Yiyi asked, worry threading like smoke.

“Mm… hold on. I’ll call her.” Meng Yuting dialed, the ringtone ticking like beads.

“Hello? It’s Meng Yuting.” Her greeting was crisp as a bell.

“Oh, Miss Meng. What is it?” Ningxin sat in her office, papers stacked like layered clouds.

“Tang Coco’s Anomaly Power awakened.” The sentence dropped like thunder.

“What?!” Ningxin sprang from her chair, shock loud as a slammed door, startling her assistant, Xiao Qiao.

“I think you know what her power is. I’d like you to come.” Meng Yuting’s tone was cool water over stone.

Silence pooled on the line, heavy as night. Ningxin had hidden things about Tang Coco’s power before.

“Alright. You’re still at Pix Amusement Isle?” Her words steadied like a hand on a helm.

“Yes.” The answer was firm as a nod.

“I’m heading over now.” Resolve blazed like a headlamp.

“Good.” Meng Yuting hung up; the call ended like a snipped thread.

“When she arrives, let her explain it to you, okay?” Gu Xin’s voice to Ye Yiyi was a warm shawl.

“Mm…” Ye Yiyi kept her head down, feeling her world blur like ink in water.

“Then… I want to see Coco first.” She lifted her eyes, gaze steady as a nail, and looked at Gu Xin.

They already knew Tang Coco had gone back to her room. The knowledge sat like a stone.

“Go. We’ll handle other things. Whatever she’s become, Coco won’t hurt you.” Gu Xin ruffled Ye Yiyi’s hair like a breeze.

“Okay.” Ye Yiyi rose and went out, footsteps light as falling petals.

At the Imperial Walk Club, currents shifted like unseen tides.

“Xiao Qiao, I’m heading out. Handle things here for now.” Ningxin’s urgency flashed like lightning.

“Got it, Sister Ning.” Xiao Qiao nodded, tact soft as cotton, and asked nothing more.

Ningxin hurried to the underground garage. Her car roared away, a silver fish knifing through night.

“Boss, Ningxin just left, and she looked in a rush.” In a guest room, the scout from Fierce Dragon Squad reported, voice quick as sparrows.

“Oh? Sounds like something interesting.” The leader crushed his cigarette, ember dying like a star.

“Move. We’re going too.” He beckoned his squad, intent sharp as a blade.